Illusion's Gift
by Angurvddel
Summary: Naruto, Yondaime, and the sealing of the Kyubi. It's all a lie. This is the way the truth begins.
1. Chapter 1

Konoha burns.

Konoha burns, but first, it drowned, not in water, but in darkness. It would be easy to imagine such darkness as a great tide that swept all before it… but it was not. Instead it welled up in shadowed corners and crawled along darkened walls. It bubbled in the crannies of old forgotten wells, and seethed as it flowed in the edges and angles of where shade met light.

Later, it would hide in the shadows of men and shinobi, women and kunoichi. It slithered in darkened footsteps, and climbed in the small shadows cast by the folds and wrinkles of finest silk and coarsest linen. From there it stole into shadowed eyes, crept into ears…. and filtered into the darkened recesses of the mind.

Where it crept, rest vanished, and the small hours were rent with the screams of unsettled minds. Unsettled, then cracked, then splintered, and finally shattered. Unsettled by dark blasphemous whisperings that said nothing and meant nothing, cracked on hard edges of strange darkly angled laughter, splintered on promises of the joyous, mad, freedom to be had in the dark… and shattered in the face of the faceless void.

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Konoha burns.

Not from the fury of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but from the fires unleashed upon it by its own ninja in madness, or in the defense against madness.

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Konoha burns.

And Iruka watchs, mind numbed by horror and fear as a hundred, a thousand thin dark plumes of smoke whispers into the sky and congeals. A many tentacled dark monstrosity, that is nevertheless only a weak reflection of the darkness below.

He shivers as he speeds across the rooftops towards the home he still shares with his family. Shivers, and tries to wipe away the dark blood staining his hand. Midori's blood, pretty Midori of the hair as green as her name and of the gentle smile. Midori who'd been teased in their academy days for being far too gentle to be a kunoichi. Midori whose smile had been as gentle as ever, even as her mad blank eyes had wept black tears, even with blood runnng in rivulets from the corners of her mouth and a too small to be adult severed hand still clutched in her fist. Who'd invited him, coyly, softly, into the shadows to satiate newfound lusts and urges.

Even as he tries to wipe away the blood, he can't help but remember how red her lips and how white her teeth had been.

When he reaches his home, he's greeted by his tearful parents and siblings, thankfully untouched, directly at least, by the madness outside.

He doesn't notice the blood on his hand while hugging his mother, as dark as shadow, creeping up his arms.

A moment later, Iruka's world is the sweet taste of blood. Somewhere he hears screaming.

He listens for a moment before he starts to hum in tune with it, a wide, wide, grin on his face.

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Konoha burns.

And the Yondaime watches from atop his tower, a sleeping infant in his arms, and a nine tailed fox by his side.

The Yondaime is tired, his shoulders slumped, and dark circles under his eyes so deep that it almost looks as if someone had managed to give him black eyes without the swelling. His golden hair, though still a spiky mess seems somehow lifeless, like a tangled rose vine that's been without water for a few days too many.

The results of hours long work is behind him on a floor swept clean of furniture. A massive circle is inscribed there, written in blood and more dubious materials. There are seals, true, a complicated mass of symbols and lesser circles, characters shaped by a precise hand. But here too are symbols that the eyes seem to slide away from and characters that seem to shiver and crawl when seen from the corner of the eye, and yet lie quiescent when viewed directly.

The Ninetails is no giant, no great wreaker of havoc, no source of red, raw malevolence. It is large, yes, but stands no taller than the Yondiame's shoulder, and would seem smaller still were it not for the mass of bright silver shining fur that are its tails. There's nothing brutish here, only sleek, elegant lines. Its eyes are deep metallic gold, not red, and flow with wisdom and mischievousness rather than fury.

"No more time remains." the fox's voice is liquid mercury, smooth and soothing… but inhuman for all that, as it speaks as many rather than one.

The Fourth nods tiredly, His voice all too human, made hoarse by recent events, "I know." The man dredges up a grin from somewhere; somehow, however wilted it is around the edges. "They'll never forget me for this." A pause as the grin fades to a small sad smile. "Take care of him for me."

The fox says nothing, but a single tail encircles the Fourth's wrist and squeezes gently.

Then the Yondaime starts. Chakra surges, spillng into the seal, following it's eddies and curves, cutting and shaping reality. There's no dramatic glow, no bright glaring lights, just the sound of one man's harsh breathing. And yet… it feels as if all the world is watching.

The dark outside swirls, eddies, and begins to leak out of eyes, vomit out of mouths, leaving shattered minds behind it. Soon, it is a dark implacable tide that surges towards the hokage tower.

Even as it approaches however, it is broken apart, battered into a shape not of its choosing by unknown… unknowable powers. A spiral, one that ends at the belly of squalling infant.

When it is done, there is no sign of there ever being a circle there, and the fourth looks as if he's sleeping, slumped on his knees as he is. The Kyuubi knows better.

Now it plays its part in all of this as it steps out into the air, unfettered by anything so banal as gravity. It hurries. The seal on Naruto will only last a few hours without the Kyuubi to maintain it. Nine tails fan out, and the grand illusion begins.

The story's been told before.

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Konoha burned.

The Ninetails, terror, destruction, fear and loathing.

Heroic defenders, delaying tactics, noble sacrifices.

Rent flesh, splintered bones, spilt blood.

Chakra and Youkai, a shattered sky, a sundered earth.

The Yondaime.

A bargain with death.

A seal.

Victory and Defeat.

Naruto.

That's the way the story goes, a bloody story, a heroic story, a tragic story.

A lie.

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But the Kyuubi isn't just _a_ Kitsune, it is_ the_ kitsune. It was the first when the world was young, and it will be the last when the world grows cold and dim. It is all of them… and none of them. It is what all Kitsune aspire to be, but what none of them can be.

A lie woven by the Kyuubi is the next best thing to the truth. Better even.

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Iruka wakes up to pain and grief.

His family lays dead around him outside of Konoha, along the trail of destruction caused by the greatest of the tailed beasts, the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

There is no blood on him save for his own.

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And in the Hokage's tower, the Kyuubi flows into the seal on an infant Naruto's belly.

Nine silver bars hold back the dark.

The stage is set, the Kyuubi hunkers down and waits for the actors.

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Author's notes:

Well, thanks for reading my story thus far. As some of you may have guessed, this story has certain lovecraftian elements to it. Hopefully it'll prove interesting. What follows will probably be short insights into the small changes to various characters. Then the main story can begin.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto ain't mine.

Kyuubi referes to the real Kyuubi, while Demon is used for the 'illusion' for clarity's sake.

**After Dark**

* * *

Konoha slept. 

Konoha slept while the Kyuubi worked, as the Grand Illusion steadily altered the world in both subtle and unsubtle ways. Entire neighborhoods destroyed by ninjas in their madness restored themselves, shattered stones and scorched mortar flowing back into walls, foundations and ceilings. Broken homes healed themselves like living wounds under the care of a med-nin and inside them, blood, bone, and gore that had seemingly soaked forever into walls and floors were wiped away as if they had never been.

Indeed, the village proper was restored almost in its entirety, save for the west gate and the surrounding area, which stayed in ruins. But that too was part of the lie, for it would be said that _here_ was where the Yondaime had faced the terrible, wrathful Demon and won his tragic victory. The signs of the battle were obvious, the Demon had left giant pawprints both cratered nad seared into the earth, and evidence of Gamabunta, the Yondiame's summons was equally apparent.. Later though, some would frown at the giant amphibian tracks that littered the area, something tiny in them insisting that the Yondaime always rode on something else, something with fur and fangs before they managed to shake it off.

Konoha slept.

And the dead walked. Corpses pulled themselves from their resting places in homes and on the streets and migrate to the great scar that would later be known as the Demon's path to Konoha. As they walk, mortal wounds inflicted by chakra and steel, hands and teeth seal themselves. In their place appear youkai burns, mangled limbs, and crushed bones, wounds such that the Demon would have left. The Kyuubi can do nothing for the dead, but gave what peace it could to the living.

Konoha slept.

And the living slept with it. As they slept, the Kyuubi crept into their memories. No one who had been in the village that night save for one will remember the Dark, only the Demon. More telling, memories and records of the Yondiame the world over changes, and only three living souls are allowed to keep the memories of the Kyuubi as it truly was.

Konoha slept.

And the Kyuubi wiped away the Dark, leaving dark red malice in its stead. But even the Kyuubi can only do so much, and small pools of the Dark, or perhaps shadows of the Dark still lingers in the hidden crevices of souls, and the obscure corners of minds.

* * *

Konoha wakes. 

Maito Gai pulls himself painfully to his feet, extricating himself from the splintered tree that had stopped his momentum after the Demon had batted him out of the way like some rag-doll.

He winces, and knows that the pain comes mostly from opening the gates to battle the Demon. _To kill faster, to feel bones turn into powder beneath his fist instead of simply snap. because it makes him feel free_

He turns towards Konoha, the village will need his help. S_omething in him giggles at that_

He takes a breath and he walks, then runs, then moves in great leaps. As he moves though, he wonders why it's so quiet. _Because he's moving so fast he can't hear their screams_

Really, it's too quiet. _Because there isn't anyone to scream anymore._

"But," He thinks to himself, "It'll be better once I reach Konoha, it'll be louder there." _But not loud enough._

Within a week, Gai will move from his apartment from the outskirts of Konoha into its center. He tells himself and his friends that he wants to be closer to the 'youth' of Konoha, his grin as wide as ever, his voice louder.

But really, he just doesn't like the quiet. _Because he can hear the silence, and he doesn't want to hear what it says._

* * *

Konoha wakes 

Hatake Kakashi comes to, aware only of darkness, and a weight on his chest.

He groans slightly and cracks open the eye that isn't covered by his hitai-ate and is rewarded to the sight of brown hair... and oh god, Rin!

His takes a shuddering breath, he remembers when the Demon had turned its attention to the temporary aid station where she'd been trying to heal the wounded. _When the madmen turned their attention to the alley where she'd been trying to heal a broken child._

His breaths quicken as he tries to move, but his protesting body fails him, is she alive? "Rin.".

He'd tried to distract the Kyuubi. _He'd tried to kill them all. His hands were stained with strangly dark blood._

He'd failed. _There were just too many_

"Rin! oi! Rin! Wake up!".

So he'd moved faster than he ever remembered moving and taken her and run. _So he'd moved faster than he ever remembered moving and taken her and run._

She's lying so still

The Demon had swung a tail at them, youkai explodes. _They escape, but he can feel the Dark creeping up his arms, and oh god it'd make him kill her._

Her chest moves, she breathes. His breathing stops.

His eye, Obito's eye saves them, he can see the shockwave, he rides it and shields Rin. _His eye, Obito's eye saves them. He feels it activating on its own and... it _eats_ the Dark._

She looks up at him. "Hatake?".

She's covered in bruises and cuts, has one black eye and the other one looks like it's going to swell shut soon and her hair's a mess. He hurts everywhere, his pelvis, his right leg, and at least four ribs are broken, he has a long gash in his left side, and knowing his luck his spleen has probably exploded somewhere along the line.

She's never been more beautiful, and he's never been happier.

He smiles at her, his eyes curving and he swears that he can feel Obito smiling with him. "Yo.".

Three seconds later as his mask is ripped off and a soft pair of lips are crushed against his own, he's got something else to smile about.

* * *

Konoha wakes. 

Haruno Suzuka fights her way out of sleep weeping. Her hands go to her distended stomach, she tries to stifle the tears and fails.

Somehow, she knows that one of her twin girls has died in the night.

She doesn't know that only her body died.

* * *

Konoha wakes. 

Mitsurashi Anko drags herself out of the impression that she'd made in the ground grinning. She knows that the last day's event are a tragedy, but she can't stop grinning.

She doesn't know why. _Because she'd beaten the Darkness, forcing it out on sheer will power alone._

She doesn't know how. _Because she'd had the benefit of experience._

But she feels more alive than she has in years. _Because now the curse seal doesn't seem so bad._

* * *

Konoha wakes. 

And Yuuhi Kurenai is convinced she's dreaming. _Because, in a way she is_

She doesn't know why. _Because she's lived, breathed, and slept Genjustsu, and a little voice in her screams that she's been put in one somehow._

For the next few weeks, she sort of just goes through the the motions of living and nobody notices because they've all got problems of their own. _Because if it's an illusion, why bother?_

A few more weeks, and people _do_ start to notice. _Asuma especially, seems frustrated. Anko just seems pissed_

It's not until Asuma kisses her out of the blue that she starts to snap out of it. _Because she wants that to be real._

But it's not until Anko impales her hand with a Dango stick with that half-crazed grin and asks her if _that_ feels like an illusion that she gives up on it completely. _Because Anko had threatened that if she said yes, _She'd_ kiss her._

* * *

Konoha wakes 

And Uchiha Itachi knows that it wasn't a nightmare. _Because it wasn't_

He knows that his family was replaced by red-eyed monsters. _And for a night, they were_.

Who'd tried to killed him. _They had._

He wanted his real family back. _They _were_ back. But he didn't know that._

So he'd train, and kill them all, except for one. _He would_.

And he'd wait until that one led him back to his real family. _He'd be right, but not in the way he thought_.

* * *

Konoha wakes 

But the Sandime is already awake.

He remembers everything, and he knows he can't say anything save for what he has been asked to say.

And the weight feels more crushing than even the mantle of Hokage.

* * *

Konoha wakes 

Naruto wakes, but he does not cry, bright blue eyes glory in the new day while still dreaming of silver fur.

For all that he contains the Dark, it hasn't touched him.

* * *

Author's Notes 

Yay, another chapter down. Hoped you enjoyed it.

So yeah, Rin (I honestly don't know how she died in canon, but I'm assuming she actually died in the Kyuubi attack) survives.

So call me a sentimental sap, it's a character defect I can live with.

Also, these are only a few of the changes from canon, more will become evident later on, but I don't just want to splat them out into the open.


End file.
